[1]
Reb Avraham Abba Persan was born in the village of Kreslavka, in Vitebsk County. His father was a close follower of the Mitteler Rebbe, and later of the Tzemach Tzedek. He was one of the most prestigious and wealthy chassidim in the entire Denenburg vicinity, and he had his son educated by melamdim who were elder chassidim in his hometown of Kreslavka, and in other villages near Denenburg and Polotzk.
Reb Avraham Abba was very diligent in his studies, and by nature he liked to have everything in precise order. His teachers trained him to memorize Tanach, the six orders of Mishnayos, and Tanya, and he could repeat them with remarkable exactness, perfectly to the letter.
He possessed strong emotions but a kind disposition nevertheless. His speech and his stride were slow and deliberate, and one can justifiably say that he measured his ways.[2] He loved his fellow man, and treated each person with kindness and respect.
From his early youth he displayed an interest in stories of the chassidim. He collected them as enthusiastically as other people collect jewels, and he would repeat these stories with infinite precision. While doing so he would add long preambles, with details about the time and place that he first heard the stories, and the personalities of the people from whom he heard them.
He married a granddaughter of the famous chassid Reb Zev Volf (whose soul is in Gan Eden) - known among Chabad Chassidim as Reb Velvel Vilenker[3] - one of the foremost chassidim of the Alter Rebbe (author of the Tanya and Shulchan Aruch). After his marriage, the gates to the treasury of chassidic stories were opened to him.
It was an unbreakable rule with Reb Zev Volf that every Shabbos (in summertime, during the third meal of Shabbos; in wintertime, on motzoei Shabbos) he would gather together the elder chassidim of the city of Vitebsk. They would come to his home and discuss subjects of interest to chassidim, primarily stories about the holy Rebbeim.
Each related a story that he had seen himself, or repeated one that he had heard from older chassidim. Whenever Reb Avraham Abba Persan reminisced about these gatherings in the home of his father-in-law's father-in-law,[4] his face would light up with indescribable ecstasy.
Reb Avraham Abba Persan often said, "Whenever I recall the hours that elder chassidim spent farbrenging during my youth - especially farbrengens by the elder chassidim of the Alter Rebbe's generation, in the home of my father-in-law's father-in-law in Vitebsk - the memory banishes all pain and anguish from my heart, and infuses me with fresh spirit. It was a favorite expression of 'my elders' (that is how Reb Avraham Abba Persan referred to older chassidim) that a chassidic farbrengen is the outer courtyard of the Beis HaMikdash of Chassidus. Through it one may enter the inner courtyard, and from there one may enter the Most Holy Chamber."[5]
Reb Avraham Abba Persan related that a spirit of holiness hovered over the elder chassidim during the farbrengens. When any of them spoke, you could see - reflected in his face - the radiance of the subject he was discussing. This radiance penetrated deeply into the listener's soul, and the memory of it never faded.
Reb Avraham Abba Persan exhibited infinite patience when reciting Tanya, the six orders of Mishnah, the five books of Chumash, or Tanach, from memory, which he did with letter-perfect precision. He would manifest the same degree of patience and perfection whenever he read one of the holy epistles sent by the Rebbeim.
He would add explanations and commentary, and he told many tales about the significance of each nuance. Each story was punctuated and annotated, and he supplied the most minute details about the exact names and nicknames of each person mentioned. Each time he retold a story, he did so with the same patience and precision.
"Whenever I heard a story from this precise chassid Reb Avraham Abba, I experienced the overpowering sensation that I was living in the time and place [of the story]. I could picture the scene in my imagination, as if the story were passing before my very eyes."
According to Reb Avraham Abba, the early chassidim would not trouble the Rebbe with their material problems - even when an extremely urgent matter was involved - because their whole commitment was to truth, and not for personal gain.
A favorite quotation of the early chassidim was:
The Israelites believed in Moshe Rabbeinu not because of the wondrous deeds he did (for when someone believes because of wondrous deeds, he still entertains some doubts). So why did they believe in him? Because they stood before Mt. Sinai, when our own eyes (not someone else's) witnessed, and our own ears (not someone else's) heard the fire, thunder, and lightning."
Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, 8:1.
The chassidim saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears, the fire, thunder, and lightning when the Alter Rebbe delivered his Torah lectures.
It was because of this that they adhered to the Alter Rebbe, connecting their own souls with his holy and sublime soul. The chassidim, who suffered physically solely because they were chassidim, accepted their agony not only with love, but also with great joy; it was dearer to them than sacrificial offerings.
The chassid Reb Avraham Abba Persan heard from his father-in-law's father-in-law that the joy the chassidim in Vilna felt over their physical suffering, and their mesirus nefesh for Chassidus, were what had convinced him to become a chassid.
For example: in the city of Ulla [County of Vilna] there lived a young man named Reb Avraham Dov, who was related to the Torah scholar and chassid Reb Tzvi Hirsh. From his early youth he had been educated in the yeshivos of the misnagdim, and he was a young genius with great abilities. He was also a superb orator. When he first arrived in Ulla, numerous chassidim already lived there. He gradually became attracted to them, eventually becoming a fervent chassid himself.
A few years later, he happened to meet several of his former yeshivah classmates in the city of Szventzian [County of Vilna]. Reb Avraham Dov spoke to them very highly of the chassidim, and taught them some chassidic teachings. Upon discovering that their former classmate had become a chassid, they became infuriated, and attacked him physically. With the assistance of a few additional young misnagdim, they beat him until they wounded him and broke his nose. From then on, he became known among the Ulla chassidim as "Reb Avraham Dov with the Big Nose."
On his deathbed, he declared: "For fifty years I was a faithful servant of the Alter Rebbe and his holy son the Mitteler Rebbe, and I occupied myself with studying their teachings. But my avodah has not made me feel the least bit superior. The only merit I possess is the great privilege I had, being beaten on account of Chassidus."
He then requested of all his friends that whenever they mentioned his name, they should add the nickname "With the Big Nose," for this was the merit he was taking with him, to serve him on the long journey he was about to make. When his friends promised to fulfill this request, he returned his soul to his Maker with complete serenity.[6]
When the number of years that his father-in-law had undertaken to support him expired, Reb Avraham Abba Persan settled in the city of Denenburg, where he lived for several years. Later, he moved to Vitebsk, where he lived until the year 5639 [1879]; after that he lived in Moscow, until the Jews were expelled from that city in the year 5652 [1892]. He then moved to Warsaw, where he remained for two years. In 5655 he finally settled in Königsberg, where he remained to the end of his days.
Notes:
- (Back to text) From HaTamim, Issue No. 6, pp. 89, 90. Appears as a footnote to the story of Reb Gavriel Nossai Chein, though we have taken several paragraphs from the story itself.
- (Back to text) [Cf. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos De'os 1:4.]
- (Back to text) [The biography of the Vilenker Brothers appeared in the previous chapter.]
- (Back to text) [I.e., Reb Zev Vilenker.]
- (Back to text) [Cf. Supra pp. 54-59.]
- (Back to text) [Another story illustrating this point appeared in the previous chapter.]
The Vilenker Brothers